Cheddar Ham Soup

This was a big hit from day one. We used to feed the missionaries often, we just enjoyed their company. I also used them to test new recipes. With this one I don't think I had anything left of the big pot I'd made. Of course it has to be easy to be on my favorites list. My mother in law gave me a subscription to Taste of Homes Quick Cooking for Christmas. It was a great gift idea. I love that magazine. The recipes are full of ingredients I have in my pantry and they are quick and easy. By the end of the year I ordered the hardback book of all the recipes. They are among my 'go to' recipe books. This recipe comes from the 2007 edition

Cheddar Ham Soup

2 cups diced potatoes

2 cups water

1/2 cup sliced carrots

1/4 cup chipped onion

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

1/4- 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham

1 cup frozen peas, thawed.

In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, water, carrots and onion. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile in another saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add the milk, salt and pepper. bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cheese until melted. Stir into undrained potato mixture. Add ham and peas; heat through.
 ENJOY!

Hot Cocoa anyone?

We L.O.V.E. hot chocolate at our house. The boys have been known to, on occassion, ask for it in the summer after playing in the pool. Of course it is never HOT but rather more like luke warm. I just stocked up on marshmallows for Christmas treats and I am hoping to get them all made before the little ones raid the marshmallows. Of course I have Grandma to thanks for part of this. She loves to give them the seasonal marshmallows. I mean, what's better for little boys than chomping down on a green tree made of cushy mallow yumminess?!

Now just combine marshmallows and cocoa together and they are in near heaven! So imagine my delight when I found these coasters on Noodlehead. OH MY GOSH! I love them. Yep, I am definantely going to make these. In fact I will be pulling out the sewing machine this week so maybe I will have something to show you along these lines. (Of course that is on top of Christmas activities and family visits and work and school- oh boy, but I gotta have 'em!)

~Just so DANG CUTE!~

I have never made gingersnap cookies but thought I would try some this year and then comes along Jaimie with one of her well timed recipes. Guess we will have hot cocoa on new cute coasters with gingersnaps! Anyone wanna join us?

Gingersnaps

Here is another project from Sisterstuff- love their blog BTW! And I think I have all the stuff for this too!

Temple Square Lights

Living closer to SLC has it's advantages. Maybe we will make this a Christmas tradition now that it is not a 3 hour drive.

It was snowing gently outside so we drove to Temple Square to see the lights. The roads were slick, we passed numerous slide offs into the lake on the way in but I was glad we went. We hadn't been there in years. In fact, I don't think any of the boys had seen them. With the snow falling the temps weren't too bad and there wasn't too many people on Temple Square. It was calm and peaceful.

And the lights- oh my- they were simply beautiful.

Matthew and dad catching snowflakes on their tongues.

It was warm enough that the fountains were still flowing. I wondering if the boys were going to go in head first a couple of times.

Ahh, the warm of Christmas. One of my favorite things of Christmas is the peace that permiates the air. Walking hand in hand, surrounded by glowing lights, with soft snowflakes falling you couldn't help but feel the peace of the season. No wonder Christmas is my favorite time of the year!

Stocking Stuffers for Boys

Girls are so much easier to fill stockings for. After all you can do jewelry, makeup, barbie clothes, Polly pockets, hair clips of all shapes and sizes and the girls will be happy. Boys on the other hand....

Well, let's just say mom has to pull out all the stops there. So with 4 boys and 12 Christmases of stuffing those red socks I thought I'd share some of the goods we use. Hopefully you will find some ideas to use. Better yet, could ya help me perfect to my list?

Our 2010 master list of Boy Stocking Stuffers:

flashlights

mechanical/fun pencils

fun erasers

Lego guys
(you can get small boxes with just a guy and an accessory)

Candy

Full/King size candy bars
(we're doing Toblerone's this year)

Dragon Universe eggs
 (thankfully dear hubby was on top of things and picked several of these little things up. They have a dragon inside)

Pet shop puppies
(this will be for our 2yr old, a suggestion from his Language Pathologist to encourage frequent word use and since we have a puppy. I thought it was a great idea)

Bath foam/soap

fun pads or doodle pads
(great for church)

tape measurers
(so hopefully they will leave dad's alone)

ear phones for their MP3's

playdough

movie

bookmarks

Deoderant for the oldest

body spray for the oldest.

For Dad:

body spray

tape measurers

pen flashlight

favorite candy bar- Toblerone

Nintendo DS game- yeah, he's the biggest kid of all

movie

Barns and Nobles Gift card

bookmark

Intimate massage oils

deoderant

For Mom:

Scrapbook tools

paper crafting supplies

ink pads

jewelry

body spray

hair clips

Chic Flic

make-up

nail polish

Gift ideas: Teachers note pads, Trees, potholders.....

Teachers note pads

I quite like this drawstring bag. Don't suppose I could get it made in time for Christmas?

My Sweet Life

And here is a recipe link party I am gonna have to check out at

House of Hepworths

This would be a great way to use up some of my scraps of fabric. I even have batting to use up....
Potholders at Fast Daze

Or these from Mommaskindacrafty

I love these trees from The Scrap Shoppe although I would do them in red and silver.